 The initial work on the opera was undertaken to French words, but a Czech version was set between May 1936 and January 1937.By the time of its premiere Martinů had written eight operas in a variety of styles.The work received its first performance at the National Theatre, Prague on 16 March 1938 (as "Julietta aneb Snář"), with Václav Talich conducting, a few months before Martinů made his last visit to his country of birth.